“I…” I hesitated, but I wanted him to have a choice. “Yes, if it was what you wanted.”
“And if it made everything worse? If it broke me?”
I shuddered out my exhale. “Then, I’d do everything in my power to hold you together, Landon. We both would.”
“Okay.” He nodded and fell quiet, and my heartbeat quickened. “Not yet. I’m not ready yet, but someday soon. When it’s safe.” He rested his hand on my forearm, and I swore the pounding in my chest would wake her up. “When we’re free from all this.”
I turned my arm over in his grasp, holding onto his arm. Gripping it tighter than he had, but it was okay because he squeezed back harder, too.
“When we’re free from all this.”
His eyes fell closed, but he didn’t let go of my arm. I couldn’t tell if he realized he said it, but his last words struck my heart. Because they only could’ve come from his.
“Good night, mate.”
I fought past the emotion in my chest, the lump in my throat, and whispered, “Good night, mate.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ihad perished.
Death by orgasms. Carve it into my tombstone and make it official. Because waking up naked and sandwiched between Landon and Kingston?
I had to be in heaven.
The only thing that could’ve made it better, and hotter—literally and figuratively—was if my Dark Knight had joined us. I crept out from between the two of them to go check on our missing link, turning back at the adjoining door just to stare at them for a minute. Both curled toward the place where I’d slept, my heart ached over what they’d lost.
But I still had hope.
Hope that faded slightly when I went to Max’s room and found it empty. Not that I’d expected him to go along with my group cuddle idea. But I would’ve settled for him pulling me into his bed, too.
He also wasn’t in the bathroom, and even though a small seed of worry planted itself in my belly, I figured he’d gone to the gym or something.
I resigned myself to finding him later without a morning delight before the day got started.
When I rejoined Kingston and Landon in bed, Kingston woke as my head hit the pillow. He caught my concern as my eyes lingered on the path to Max’s room, and he brushed his thumb across the furrow in my brow.
But my mind wouldn’t leave thoughts of Max.
Thoughts of everything he’d been through and trying to solve the mystery of his past. How to unravel the pain that led to the way I’d found him the night before.
I could still feel his grief, even though it had settled well before we went to sleep.
I’d thought he’d been alright, but finding him gone this morning made me wonder if I should’ve left his side. Even though he accepted that my time had to be split, what if I’d messed it up?
“Are you alright?” Kingston whispered, concern in his eyes now matching mine.
“Something was going on with Max last night, and now I’m worried I’m not navigating all this very well.” My mouth twisted into a frown. “I’m not sure why, though. I know he gets it, I just…I’m worried about him.”
Kingston blinked sleep from his eyes, a crease forming in his brow. “Did he say anything? I came to find you last night because I got a weird call. No one on the other line, just silent breathing. It might not have been breathing at all. I just wanted to check on you, and you weren’t in your room. Then, I found you here, and…”
“We had the best orgasm sandwich I’ve ever had? Yes, I remember.” I smiled briefly before the worry flooded back in. “But no, Max didn’t say anything that makes me think it’s related to that. Are you worried…?”
“No, not really. It was probably just a spam call, and I answered without realizing it.”
Whether he was only putting my mind at ease or truly unbothered, he distracted me with new thoughts of Max. “He doesn’t share much…Max, he closes off sometimes. And I’m still trying to get through, but I don’t know when or if he’ll let me in about certain things.”
Kingston sighed heavily, his concern for Max apparent on his face. “It’s not easy for him, I imagine. Some things, I’m not sure if they’re even true, and others, I’m not sure they’re mine to share. Or that you’d really want to hear it from me at this point.”
